Alabama Black Belt Articles

Alabama Black Belt Hunting Traditions that you will want to pass down

February 2020

By Joe Baya

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve had my shirt tail cut off. I certainly had my face smeared with blood after my first deer. Have I lied about what I saw? Never. There is something about the right of passage that creates a unique memory in one’s brain. Make sure you pass some traditions on to the hunters in your circle, they’ll never forget it.

The Black Belt's Rich soil creates a special place for Sporting Adventures

November 2019

By John N. Felsher

Nourished for centuries by several rivers depositing nutri­ent-rich black, loamy soil, the Black Belt region extends across 23 counties in central Alabama. That fertile soil created outstanding agricultural land, but also created excellent habitat for white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and other wildlife.

Building homes and scouting for Crappie

July 2018

After spending a morning with Robert Outlaw and his wife Kathy (See Days 1 & 2) catfishing, we caught up to Tony Adams, of Eufaula, Alabama, who guides for crappie all year long on Lake Eufaula. Many people believe that Adams is one of the luckiest crappie fisherman they’ve ever met because he usually can catch two anglers and himself three limits of crappie in 4 hours or less. However, Adams is a prime example of the old saying, “Those who work the hardest usually are the luckiest,” especially when it comes to fishing.

Learning More About Summertime Crappie

July 2018

What many casual fishermen don’t understand is that fish have to feed all year, whether the weather’s hot or cold, and whether you’re fishing at night or in the daytime,” Tony Adams explains. “Crappie like to hold in water that’s cooler than the surface temperature, in or around underwater structure where they can attack bait fish, and during the summer months they’ll school and hold in the same places most of the summer. Fishing the spots where the water temperature is comfortable for the crappie to hold in, there’s plenty of underwater structure for the crappie to hide and feed in, and we present a bait that crappie will eat – minnows, jigs, spoons or jigs tipped with minnows – then catching summertime crappie doesn’t present that big a problem.

Alabama Black Belt Bobwhites

Summer 2018

By Tom Carpenter

For a Yankee boy with a deep love for quail, it was a dream come true. Big, gentle horses nickered as saddles were cinched up around their bellies. Handsome, rangy pointing dogs whined in their kennels, begging for the work ahead. Double shotguns —some costing less than my old do-it-all semi auto at home, others worth more than my truck — emerged from cases while elsewhere chaps were donned and hunting vests slid into. Broad smiles and soft laughter filled the air as new friends spoke a common language in the mild and pine-scented air of a late-winter Alabama morning: that of bobwhites and the hunt.

Bobwhites and bird dogs put this community in Alabama’s famed Black Belt on the map then and now

May 2018

By Tom Carpenter

Pulling into Union Springs, you can’t help but recognize the influence of bobwhite quail and bird dogs on this Bullock County community in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt.

A full building-side mural commemorates the area’s storied history. Traffic must swing around a bird dog statue that sits smack-dab in the middle of the town square, declaring Union Springs and surrounding Bullock County as the Field Trial Capital of the World. A group of hunters taking a break from the field doesn’t draw second glances at all while wandering the neat, relaxed and vibrant little downtown on a sunny, late-winter afternoon.

Fishing for Crappie, Catfish and Shellcrackers Doesn’t Get Better Than This

April 2018

You need to get down here. We’re tearing the fishing up. Catfishing can’t get better, and the big crappie are on the structure. I took three of my friends fishing with me – Joe Good, Billy Nelson and Wayne Erickson. We caught 50 big crappie and 300 pounds of catfish that weighed from 10 to 20 pounds each. The catfish were holding in two-different water depths – deep water about 60-feet deep on the main river channel and 40-foot-deep water on the sandbars. Continue Reading…

Chasing the Elusive Shellcracker

April 2018

On the way to Eufaula on Monday, the last day in April, I called Adams, and he reported, “A friend of mine found a shellcracker bed yesterday morning just at daylight. He caught his limit of 50 shellcrackers before he had to go to work. Since he won’t be able to fish that bed until next week, he’s told me where we can go, and the size of shellcrackers we can expect to catch when you arrive.” Continue Reading…

Learning the Secret to Catching Big Catfish on Jugs

April 2018

So, on the way to fish for shellcrackers on Monday afternoon, we put out 75 Gatorade jugs, each with 40-60 feet of line and a No. 6 steel circle hook baited with either big chunks of mullet or skipjack herring on it. When I asked Adams, “Why do you use mullet?” he explained that, “Mullet is a saltwater fish that’s very smelly and stinky when it gets in warm water. Because catfish are drawn to anything that has a strong odor, I’ve found that mullet makes an excellent catfish bait. Another reason I use mullet is they’re very inexpensive bait. Two packages of mullet will bait about 24 jugs.” Continue Reading…

Missing Shellcrackers and Crappie and Enduring a Cold Spring Night to Catch Catfish

April 2018

When our shellcracker adventure was over, on late Monday afternoon, and we’d only caught one shellcracker that wasn’t exactly impressive, we decided to go check our catfish jugs that we’d put out before we started chasing shellcracker. By Monday night the temperature had dropped to below 50 degrees, and Tony Adams and I were both somewhat chilly, since the daytime temperature had been about 70 degrees. Although we did catch about four or five catfish that would weigh from 1-2 pounds, the weather change had apparently given the catfish lockjaw. Continue Reading…

Enjoying an Awesome Spring Day of Fishing for Crappie and Catfish

April 2018

I finally got to sleep about 2:00 am on Tuesday morning, May 1, after arriving in Eufaula the previous late afternoon and fishing for shellcrackers, catfish and crappie. I knew I’d have to get up at 6:30 am on Tuesday to meet Tony Adams at the boat ramp at 7:30 am. When the alarm went off the next morning, my eyes gave me every reason they didn’t want to open, but a voice inside me said, “John, get your lazy self up. You’ve got to go catch some crappie.” Reluctantly, I pushed the covers back, and my feet eventually found the floor. Continue Reading…

Good Grit Magazine

March / April 2016

For Alabamians, spring represents a change in climate, bringing about warmer temperatures and fresh vegetation. With the onset of the spring months, Alabama outdoorsmen (and women) are excited for the dawn of turkey season. Of course, like any form of the sport, turkey hunting is no easy game. Continue Reading…

Sporting Classics

March / April 2016

In all likelihood, there’s nowhere else in the country where you will find a comparable concentration of guided turkey hunting opportunities, and that fact in and of itself speaks eloquently of the region’s first rate sport in connection with His Majesty, the wild gobbler. Knowledgeable guides are an integral part of the overall picture, and here you will find seasoned hunters fully fluent in turkey talk and holding advanced degrees in that critical element of success inthe sport. Continue Reading…